A Charitable Pastime
by Mark C
Summary: A charitable baseball game between a mix of DCMarvel heroes against a group of androids.


**Disclaimer:** The characters within are owned by DC and Marvel comics

**Summary:** A charitable baseball game between a mix of DC/Marvel heroes against a group of androids.

**AN:** This story does not take place in any particular time period in either universe. I would like to thank **htbthomas**, **foxtwin** and **sean montgomery** for their betaing skills and assistance. Also, thanks goes out to **bistyboo1974** for a key story element.

* * *

**A Charitable Pastime**

On this beautiful night at Comerica Park in Detroit, a different sort of game was about to be played. Not the Tigers, or anyone from the major or minor leagues, but instead players from a very different League.

Not even their opponents were average – highly advanced androids that appeared, at least to the eye, to be very human. The stars of the show were mostly human, consisting of a group of well-known heroes, more than half belonging to the Justice League. The other half of their teammates came from New York and they were brought together by request.

* * *

_A few months ago_

Lois and Clark sat at the coffee table eating breakfast and reading the newspaper before they headed off to the _Daily Planet_, a morning ritual.

"Lois," Clark asked after a sip, "could you pass me the sports section of the _Planet,_ please?"

"Here you go."

"Thanks, sweetheart… but this isn't the sports section from the _Planet_."

"Oops, sorry about that, Smallville," Lois apologized. She did a quick search of the table top and found the section her husband had requested. "Here it is. Happy reading." Lois went right back to reading her paper.

"Aren't you reading Metropolis' finest newspaper?" a curious Clark inquired.

"No, I wanted to read New York's finest paper."

"You mean the _Times_?"

"Jeez, Clark. You can't be _that_ slow on the uptake." Lois showed him the paper's front page that had the _Daily Bugle_ printed in bold on the newspaper's header.

Just one look at the paper and Clark knew the reason why Lois was reading it.

"It's been a while since we've seen him, hasn't it?" Clark asked, as he tried to remember the last they saw their friend from New York.

"Too long. Oh, here's one of his photos and on the front page as well," Lois mentioned as Clark came over to get a peek. "Peter sure does get enough front-page pictures."

"That he does, Lo. Plus, it doesn't hurt that he's able to get those great shots being Spider-Man."

As they looked at Peter's picture of one of his battles against Doctor Octopus as Spider-Man, Lois spotted an article that also made the front page of the _Bugle_.

"Did you see this article about the Boys and Girls Club, Clark?" questioned Lois, after she gave it a quick read.

"Yeah, the organization is really in a financial trouble and could use some help or else they'll have to shut down," Clark answered, concerned that these clubs would have to cease operation.

After a thoughtful silence, Lois asked, "Clark, do we still have Peter and Mary Jane's phone number?" She got up and went in search of their address book.

An idea sprung in Clark's mind. "I can do you one better…" Faster than a speeding bullet, Clark was out of their apartment before Lois could ask where he was going.

A few minutes later, Lois got her answer. Clark had gone out, as Superman, and got the very person that they were thinking about. Peter Parker.

As soon as his running shoes touched the floor, Peter asked, "What's all the hubbub, bub?"

"Well…"

"We were thinking about you and were trying to find your phone number…" Lois added.

"And Clark here decided to just bring me here because it would be faster," Peter determined. "It doesn't matter why I'm here because it's nice to see you guys again."

After pleasantries were shared amongst them, Peter asked, "So, what am I doing in Metropolis and does it have anything to do with that folliclely-challenged billionaire?"

"It's nothing like that, Pete," Lois chuckled, "but we could use your help with something,"

"Sure, name it," replied Peter, eagerly waiting to hear what Lois had in mind.

"Clark and I realized that the Boys and Girls Clubs are in dire need of some financial support and I thought that we could do something for them."

"Do you have anything in mind?"

"I think I do," Lois answered immediately. "It came to me just before I thought of Peter, here. Since the Boys and Girls Club is the official charity of Major League Baseball, why not have a friendly baseball game to raise some money for them?"

"Who do you expect to play in this game, Lois?" Peter asked.

Then Clark chimed in as well, surprised at her ingenuity, "I'm wondering about that myself."

"That's where the two of you come in," she answered as she led both men over to the dining room table.

Lois' plan was for a group of heroes to play in the ballgame. "Not a bad idea, Lois but what does it have to do with me? There are a bunch of guys around Metropolis that could play. Why would you need your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man?" Peter asked, honored to be asked anyway.

"Peter, the JLA would be short-handed if they all participated and if something happened, there would be no one around to do anything," Clark answered, knowing now why Lois had asked for the webhead's participation in the game.

"All right, I'm in. Is there anything else I can do?"

"Yes, there is," Lois began, "If you can gather a few of your fellow crime fighters from New York that would definitely help."

Peter thought about it for the briefest of moments and gave Lois and Clark his answer. "I'll see what I can do and let you know how many will be able to play."

"Thanks, Pete. Now, let's get to work on how we can get this whole thing off the ground."

Then they started to hammer things out. It was decided that the game be played in Detroit, since that's where the funds were needed most. Since it was Lois' idea, they decided that if there was a need for a sponsor, the _Daily Planet_ would do it. Also, with Bruce Wayne as the owner, his influence could be used with Major League Baseball to have the game played during the season and with no other game being played on that day.

The trio also came up with an idea for a team to play against. Since some of the heroes involved could literally _crush_ a baseball, normal human opponents were out of the question. Clark suggested playing against robots or androids – if he needed help, he'd get in touch with Bruce.

"I guess that's about everything we need to cover," Lois happily said as she finished taking notes on what had to be done to get the game off the ground.

"There's one thing we left out, guys," Peter mentioned. "Who's going to be the manager for the hero team?"

Clark mentioned that, "The person for the job needs to know the game as well as the heroes rather well."

"I guess there's only one logical choice then," added Lois.

"Uh huh," both Clark and Peter agreed.

"The manager should be… me." Lois stated proudly.

You could've heard a pin drop because there was absolute silence at Lois' suggestion. A very surprised Peter asked, "Really?"

"Are you kidding me?" Clark spat out, immediately wishing he hadn't because of Lois' look.

"I'll have you know, Smallville," Lois got right in his face, "that I've been following baseball since I was a little girl. I was in Little League as well and we won the state championship three years in a row through _my_ leadership! So don't you dare say that I can't manage this team."

"All right, you can manage the team."

"Thanks, sweetheart," Lois replied giving Clark a quick kiss.

_I guess we know who wears that pants in this marriage_, Peter chuckled inwardly.

"Since everything is pretty much set, I'll get to work on my end. When I find some more players, I'll let you know," Peter let them know as he got up.

"Fair enough. Just give me a second and I'll take you back to New York," Clark told his friend as he took a quick spin and was ready to go as Superman.

"Talk to ya later, Skip," Peter said to Lois with both a wink and a smirk.

"You betcha." Lois gave Peter a hug… followed by a pat on the butt.

"It looks like you got some managerial mannerisms down already. Let's go, Blue Boy."

As the days passed, Lois and Clark were able to gather five other members of the JLA, which brought the amount of players to six including Clark. It was surprising that Bruce, as Batman, wanted to participate. Superman was also able to get Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Flash (Wally West), Wonder Woman (Diana Prince) and Vixen (Mari McCabe).

Bruce was able to work at a deal with the MLB to get the game played during the season and the suspension of all games for that night, as well as Detroit's Comerica Park for the event. STAR Labs provided them with a team of androids to play against.

Peter had gotten the rest of the players to fill out the roster. It took him a couple weeks but the Amazing Spider-Man filled the last five spots. His recruits included Captain America (Steve Rogers), Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) and the Invisible Woman (Sue Richards) from the Fantastic Four, and Luke Cage. With everyone in place, they all were able to agree on getting together once a week to practice because Lois was dead set on winning.

* * *

Comerica Park was filled to capacity. Reporters and analysts the world over came to cover the game.

Pitching for the home-team heroes, Mr. Fantastic met fan expectations in the first inning. Reed forced the first batter to ground out, Spider-Man caught an easy second out in right field, and the third batter struck out on three well-placed pitches. Sue Richards, playing second base, congratulated her husband with a kiss on the cheek en route to the dugout.

Flash batted first for the heroes in the bottom of the first. He laid down a perfect bunt towards third on the first pitch. Of course the fastest man alive was on first as soon as the ball was in play.

Captain America batted next. He approached the plate to applause from the capacity crowd. After a couple of foul pitches, he was able to line the ball down the right field line and into the corner – a double and an RBI. Flash, running swiftly slowed to taunt the mechanized opponents before scoring easily.

Spidey was next. The pitcher worked the count to 3-and-2 on the web-head. But a curve ball hanging over the plate allowed Spider-Man to smack the ball over the left field fence a two run homer! The crowd cheered wildly. Even so, Spider-Man could have sworn he heard at least one boo.

_I wonder who would boo me here?_ Spider-Man thought as he scanned the crowd to see if he could figure out who it was.

Superman came up to thunderous standing ovations. A quick look to the dugout earned a warm smile from his manager/wife. His first pitch was fouled back into the crowd. The stadium announcer congratulated a girl from Cameron, Missouri, who would be taking that ball home. The next two pitches were high and tight, brushing the Man of Steel back. Unfortunately, the third pitch wasn't any better; he got hit in the back while turning away from another inside pitch. Superman was surprised that he was hit by a pitch.

"You alright, Superman?" the home plate umpire asked concernedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." The Man of Steel trotted down to first base, untroubled.

Wonder Woman and the Invisible Woman both hit sacrifice flies, allowing Superman to speedily score. Batman then got an infield hit, keeping the inning alive for the heroes. But when Luke Cage sent a deep fly ball to center field, it was caught to end the inning with the Heroes four, Androids nothing.

Innings two and three went fairly quickly. With no score by both sides in the second inning, Spider-Man changed the heroes' momentum by smashing the ball into the left-center field gap -- a triple. Then Superman, hit by another pitch, put runners at the corners.

_What the heck is going on here?_ Lois thought as she saw her husband hit for a second time. _They're intentionally walking him? What's their game?_

The Amazonian Princess was next up. A double smacked down the left field line allowed Spider-Man and Superman to score. The Invisible Woman and the Dark Knight each grounded out to short, ending the inning. With three innings in the books, the heroes had a commanding six to nothing lead.

The fourth inning was scoreless for both teams but the fifth wasn't. With two out in the top of the fifth, the android team broke Reed's perfect game with a two-out walk to the android shortstop. It appeared to Reed that their AI programming had finally kicked in. Maybe they'd learned a thing or two to finally get a base runner. The next batter he faced sent a fastball over the left field wall, just out of Batman's reach. Robotic cheers came from the visitor's dugout. Lois came out of the dugout. After calming the leader of the Fantastic Four, Lois saw Reed strike out the next hitter on three pitches. With the game going to the bottom of the fifth, the heroes' lead was cut six to two.

Captain America led the bottom of the fifth for the heroes. He fouled the first couple of pitches, but struck out on a called third strike by a pitch catching the inside corner. Spider-Man came up next to continue his hot hitting. The wallcrawler watched as the first two pitches he faced were called balls. Next, he fouled a ball off. The PA announcer said a guy from Ontario, Canada, had snagged it. Spidey sent the fourth pitch down the right field line for a one-out double.

A frustrated Superman was up next. Lois noticed this and told the love of her life in a very soft voice, "You can do this, Clark. Wait for the right pitch so you can drive Pete in."

He gave her a smiling nod as he stepped into the batter's box. The first pitch caught the inside corner for a strike, but the second was just a bit outside for a ball.

"Pitcher's got a big butt!!" Spider-Man exclaimed from second, as the pitcher went into his wind up. One fluid motion later, the pitcher sent the ball to pick off the web head. Spidey's little taunt, however, had distracted both shortstop and second baseman. Neither had covered second as the ball rolled into center field. As a result, Spidey stole third rather easily.

With a runner now on third, the Man of Steel was more determined than ever to bring him home. He never got the chance. He was hit by a pitch for the third time in the game. Superman, disgusted, slammed the bat on the ground. _Snap_! The head of the broken bat lodged securely in the ground. That brought everyone in both dugouts to their feet and silenced the crowd.

Lois rushed out of the dugout toward the umpire. "What the hell is going on here? That pitcher," Lois said as she pointed to the mound, "has hit Superman three times here. You better do something about this or _I_ will."

"There will be none of that in this game, Ms. Lane. Just get back to your dugout," the umpire told her.

Lois reluctantly did so, and the umpire then warned both teams about throwing intentionally at a hitter.

Meanwhile, Superman headed to first. He stared the pitcher down with a slight red glow coming to his eyes. Of course, the android thought nothing of it, preparing for the next batter.

Wonder Woman came up next and was able to send the first pitch to deep centerfield, only to be caught for the second out. The ball was hit so deep, however, that Spider-Man was able to tag and score while Superman took second.

Before Sue Richards came to the plate, her son Franklin, acting as bat boy, did his job and picked up Princess Diana's bat. Sue patted her son on the head as she made her way to the batter's box. She swung on and missed the first pitch, but then hit a line drive caught by the second baseman for the final out. As she was heading to the dugout, Franklin walked with her, carrying Sue's bat.

"Better luck next time, Mom," Franklin cheerfully encouraged.

"Thanks, sweetie," replied Sue happily.

After giving up two runs in the top of the fifth, the heroes came back with one of their own to take a seven to two lead into the sixth inning.

Reed struggled in the sixth. The leadoff android hit a sharp ground ball up the middle for a single. The next android worked the count full, which is three balls to two strikes, until he finally gave up ball four -- a walk. As the next batter came up, Luke Cage, the catcher, went up to the mound for a little chat with his battery mate.

"C'mon, Reed," Luke encouraged. You've pitched a great game so far. Don't worry about who's on base. Go after the hitter and the guys and gals behind you will take care of business,"

"You're right, Luke. I need to get back to pitching as if there's no one on," replied Reed.

"All right then. Let's get this next bum out and get two more to gut this inning."

Reed gave Luke a small smile and a nod as the home plate umpire interrupted their talk to get the game going again.

The next pitch Reed threw was a high fly ball down the left field line. Luckily, Batman tracked it down to make a catch in foul territory. Out number one.

Reed went right after the next batter with two strikes; one was a called strike while the other was a swing and a miss. With the count in his favor, Mr. Fantastic's pumping adrenaline made him a little wild. The next two pitches were outside the strike zone for balls.

"You can do it, Reed! Get this guy out!" Lois shouted out to her pitcher from the dugout.

Nodding to his skipper, Reed settled down to throw his next pitch. The ball was hit directly to Sue on a couple of hops. Fielding the ball cleanly, Sue flipped it to Captain America who stepped on the bag at second and fired the ball over to the Flash at first for a classic double play to end both the inning and the android threat.

Making his way to the dugout, Spider-Man got a good look at one of the android ball players. He spotted a funny looking mark on that android.

_I should know that symbol from somewhere…_ Spidey thought to himself. He decided that while his team was up to bat, he would try to remember where he saw that symbol.

Batman was the first batter for the bottom of the sixth. He battled the pitcher, fouling off several balls and laying off of some pitches to work the count full, three balls and two strikes. Again, the Dark Knight fouled off five more pitches until he got a ball that he hit to deep left-center field. The android center fielder went full out and dove for the ball making an outstanding catch.

"Better luck next time, Master Bruce," Alfred Pennyworth said to himself from Bruce's luxury box. He watched his employer with satisfaction as Batman headed back to the dugout.

Luke Cage was next in the batter's box. The first pitch was high and tight, brushing him off the plate a bit. Luke took it in stride, stepped out of the batter's box for second to readjust his batting gloves, then took a couple of pitches just a bit outside for balls. With a hitter's count of three balls and no strikes, Luke took a swing and fouled back to the netting behind home plate. He also fouled the next pitch deep down the right field line for strike two.

With the count now full, Luke stepped out of the batter's box to prepare himself for the pay off pitch by taking a couple of practice swings. But when the third pitch came, Luke stood there 'like a house by the side of the road and watched that one go by' for a strike, as one commentator put it.

With two out, Reed Richards came to the plate. Reed was able to foul the first pitch down the left field line and into the seats. According to the stadium announcer, one lucky woman from Chicago, Illinois, snatched that one. Reed popped the next pitch up to the first baseman for the final out. The inning was over with the score still seven to two in favor of the heroes.

The top of the seventh started off pretty good for the heroes. Reed was able to get the first batter to ground out with a beautiful play by Wonder Woman at third. Next, he was able to get the android third baseman to fly out to right. With two out, Reed was ready to get the next batter out to end the top of the seventh.

The third hitter came up and Reed went right after him getting the first two pitches over the plate for strikes. Then, Reed got into a bit of trouble. Instead of throwing strikes, he threw four straight balls to put a man on at first. Reed was no better with the next hitting the ball up the gap in left center. Luckily, Superman was able to get the ball back in to keep a run from scoring. But runners were on second and third.

Luke came out again to settle his pitcher down. Meanwhile, Lois made a call to the bullpen to get a reliever warmed up. She had a feeling a change might be needed soon.

Luke's chat with Reed seemed to work as he got two quick strikes on the new hitter. Even so, a breaking ball didn't break enough, and the batter sent it off the scoreboard in left field for a three run home run. The home run rattled Reed enough that he hit the next batter after falling behind on a two ball, no strike count.

Lois had seen enough. Making her way to the mound, she signaled for Vixen to relieve Reed. "You did a great job, Reed," Lois told her starter once she got to the mound.

"Thanks, but I should've been able to get out of the inning without giving up a run," a dejected Reed told his skipper.

"Don't worry about it," Lois winked. "We'll make sure you get the win tonight."

Reed then handed Lois the ball and headed to the dugout. Fans gave him warm applause as he left, appreciative of his efforts.

With Vixen on the mound, Lois charged her to go after the hitter and not worry about the score or the runner on first. After a couple of minutes of pitching warm-ups, the home plate umpire signaled for them to play ball and the batter stepped into the box.

Vixen obliged Lois by going right after the first batter she faced. The android popped a lazy inside ball to second, and just like that, the inning was over. Vixen received high fives from her teammates as she left the field to prepare for their turn at bat.

The top of the order was coming up for the heroes in the bottom of the seventh inning. Flash stepped into the batter's box, determined to get on base. Once settled in, Flash swung at the first pitch but fouled it off his front foot.

The Fastest Man Alive cried out painfully as he hobbled around the home plate area. "Damn it!" That immediately brought Lois out to check on her first baseman.

"You all right, Flash?" Lois asked, concerned for the hero's well-being.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Skip. No worries here."

Lois took his word for it and headed back to the dugout.

Flash stepped back in the box but would later regret it. The pitch came in fast and low clipping his front foot as he tried to step out of the ball's path. Flash crumbled to the ground in a heap.

Lois rushed with a trainer to check on Flash's condition. He tried to get up and head to first, but the pain was so great that he fell back down to the ground.

Knowing full well that Flash needed some help getting off the field, Lois motioned for Superman to carry him off.

"Who you got to replace, Flash, Ms. Lane?" asked the home plate umpire as Flash got up with the help of Superman and the trainer.

"I'll take his place and his position when we take the field again," Lois told the umpire.

"You sure about that, Lois?" Superman questioned just as he was about to take his friend to get looked after.

"We need someone out there and I used to play a _mean_ first base," she chuckled. Then in a low voice she added, "I'll be fine, Clark. Just get Flash's foot looked at."

Lois made her way to first as Flash was assisted off the field and Captain America stepped into the batter's box.

The first two pitches to Cap were both outside for balls. On the third pitch, Lois took off for second. The pitch bounced up to the catcher for ball three and he had no chance to throw Lois out at second. With a runner now threatening at second, the android pitcher decided to put the Sentinel of Liberty on base by intentionally walking him. Now that both first and second were occupied, that set up a force play or a possible double play for the androids.

Too bad that the next batter was the hottest hitter in the game today, Spider-Man.

Spidey stepped to the plate to warm applause from the crowd.

Waving to the crowd, Spider-Man was ready until he heard, "You suck, you wallcrawling miscreant. You're a bum, I tell ya!"

Before stepping in the box, he scanned the crowd to see where that taunt came from. "I should've known," the wallcrawler said as he spotted _Daily Bugle_ publisher, J. Jonah Jameson, no surprise.

"You hear me, web head, you're a bum!!"

"Jameson, bite me!"

Before JJ could say anything back, his mouth was covered in webbing which brought the crowd to their feet. As usual, Spidey ate it up but decided it was time to get down to business and step into the box to hit.

The android pitcher went right after Spider-Man. After fouling off a couple of pitches, Spidey hit the next pitch softly down the third base line bringing the third baseman in. It slowly rolled to a dead stop in fair territory as Spider-Man made first base.

"The Amazing Spider-Man has just hit for the cycle," the stadium announcer remarked.

The crowd cheered for Spidey, but one woman with a lovely shade of red hair cheered the loudest. He knew who that special person was, especially when she mouthed the words, 'I love you'. Giving her a nod, he tapped his chest over his heart, letting her know he felt the same.

The bases were now loaded and it was Superman's turn at the plate. As he was stepping into the box, Spider-Man once again noticed the symbol on the first baseman. It was in the same spot as the one he had seen earlier.

_Now I remember what the symbol stands for_. It suddenly made sense why the Man of Steel was constantly hit by pitches.

In a calm, low voice, Spider-Man asked, "Hey, Big Blue, tap the plate once if you can hear me, all right?"

Superman looked towards Spidey and tapped the plate once.

"Take a good look at the catcher – see an odd symbol just below his right ear?" Spider-Man asked.

Stepping out of the box, he took a look using his X-Ray vision. Superman could clearly see it was a symbol from LexCorp. Immediately, Superman scanned the crowd and spotted Lex Luthor in one of the luxury boxes. A controller was in his hands.

Within minutes, the umpire was notified. Security escorted Luthor from the ballpark, and Mr. Fantastic examined the confiscated device.

With that taken care of, the game resumed. The first pitch to Superman caught the outside corner for a strike. That pitch proved that Lex must have been controlling the pitcher when Superman came to bat since he wasn't close to hitting him like all the other pitches he got.

The next pitch was right down the middle. Superman took a mighty swing. The force of the bat connecting with the ball shattered the bat. The cover of the ball landed in center field, with the ball core sailing out of the stadium and into the Detroit River. Superman had hit a grand slam home run that cleared the bases!

Everyone roared as Superman rounded the bases, preceded by his teammates that were on base. When he touched the plate, he was congratulated by everyone who scored and given a kiss on the cheek by Lois.

The crowd was still going nuts minutes after the play. So, Lois and Spider-Man motioned for Superman to make a curtain call and wave to the fans. Stepping out of the dugout, the Man of Steel waved at the crowd for a bit and then went back inside the dugout.

Wonder Woman was next at bat. She hit the first pitch _deep_, over the wall in right field for a solo home run. The hit scored the fifth run of the inning for the heroes.

It was now Sue Richards' time at bat, and she too continued the hit attack for the heroes. After working the count full, she smacked a line drive into the gap in left for a double. She was followed by Batman who was able to get a bloop hit in shallow right. That hit put runners at first and third still with no one out. Luke Cage rounded out the streak hitting the ball just fair down the right field line for a stand up double. With Sue and Batman crossing home plate, the heroes had now scored seven runs with no one out.

Vixen, as Reed Richards' replacement, took her turn at bat. She placed a bunt in front of the plate on the first pitch. The pitcher fielded the ball, throwing Vixen out at first base. Though out, Vixen had allowed Luke to advance to third. She received high fives for her sacrifice as she returned to the dugout.

Lois now came to the plate, taking Flash's spot in the batting order. The first pitch she saw was a called strike but the second one she sent up the middle for a single, scoring Luke. That brought the total to eight runs scored for the inning.

Captain America came up next. Alas, he popped up the first pitch behind the plate. It was an easy catch for the second out of the inning.

Spidey was next to come up and he didn't even have to take his bat off his shoulder. The web-slinger watched as he was intentionally walked. This gave the androids a force play at any base. But now they had to deal with the man that started the scoring barrage -- Superman.

The Man of Steel stepped into the batter's box to make them pay, and pay they did. Watching the first pitch sail outside for a ball, Superman sent the next pitch over the wall in center field for a three run homer. As he rounded the bases, the PA announcer informed the fans that Superman had hit two home runs in the same inning.

Wonder Woman came up again in the seventh, quickly hitting a ground ball to short and being thrown out at first to end the inning. The heroes had scored eleven runs in the inning and took a commanding eighteen to five lead.

The top of the eighth went smoothly for Vixen as she easily sent down the side in order: a ground out to short, a pop up to third and a strikeout. The androids matched Vixen's resolve setting the heroes down 1-2-3. The Invisible Woman hit a come backer to the pitcher who fired it to first for out number one. Batman flew out to the left field for out number two. Luke Cage made the final out by sending the right fielder to the warning track in right center.

With the ninth inning to go, the heroes took a commanding lead into the final frame. All they had to do is hold off the androids as they led eighteen to five.

The androids had a thirteen run deficit to make up and no one could tell if they were determined enough to try. Their first batter of the inning faced three pitches before he hit a towering fly ball down the right field line.

Spider-Man did have a lot of time to act so he called Superman over to give him a hand.

He asked his friend quickly, "Can you get me up to the top of the foul pole?"

A quick nod of Superman's head, he grabbed the web-slinger and easily tossed him to the top of the pole. With an outstretched gloved hand, Spider-Man made the unbelievable catch on the fair side of the foul pole for the first out of the inning.

The fans applauded the catch while Spider-Man blew them kisses.

The next hitter gave Vixen a little trouble. He worked the count full and was able to get a pitch that he could hit and sent it up the middle for a single.

The third android hitter of the inning hit the ball down the right side of the infield that Lois was able to snag the ball and she was only able to flip it to Vixen, who was covering first for the second out. On the play, the man on first was able to take second with two out.

Hitter number four came to the plate for the androids to try to keep the inning going while Vixen was trying to end it for the heroes. The mechanical hitter worked the count to two balls and two strikes when he got a pitch he could handle and sent it just out of the reach of Captain America at short for a single. Batman fielded the ball quickly to keep a run from scoring.

With runners on the corners, Vixen wanted to work the next batter carefully and try to record the final out of the game. The android stood tough against Vixen, getting the count full. On the payoff pitch, the ball was ruled just a bit outside for ball four. Now the bases were loaded with nowhere to put the next batter if he got on base.

Luckily, Lois had someone throwing in the bullpen after the first man reached base. She called a timeout and made a motion for the bullpen.

"Sorry, Lois, I tried to get that last guy out," Vixen told her manager, disappointed she couldn't get the last batter out.

"You did a wonderful job, Vixen. You kept those guys off the scoreboard. We'll let GL finish this," replied Lois, taking the ball from Vixen.

GL was Green Lantern, who immediately took the ball with a few instructions from Lois and began warming up.

Once Lois was back at her position at first, Green Lantern was done warming up and ready to face the android hitter. He got two quick strikes on the batter but on his next pitch, he left it up just enough for the hitter to get a hold of it. The ball was heading to deep center field. Superman was slowly losing room to go back as he reached the wall in center and jumped up to try to catch the ball. The move that Superman made for the ball hung him up on the wall for a bit before he brought his arm back from behind the wall and showed everyone that he had caught the ball.

Everyone in attendance howled with glee that Superman had made the catch for the final out of the game. The final score of the game was Heroes eighteen and Androids five.

All the heroes swarmed around Superman, congratulating him on making the catch. For the next several minutes, interviews were conducted with several of the heroes and of course their manager.

A couple of hours later, as everyone left the ballpark, Clark and Peter walked out of the ballpark with their significant others.

"That was some game, wasn't it?" Clark asked to no one in particular.

"It sure was," answered Peter, amazed at how the game turned out.

"All of you played great," Mary Jane added as she gave Peter a peck on the cheek.

"Without the leadership of our lovely manager, we may not have been on the winning end of the score," added Clark, wrapping his arm around Lois.

"You know, I can't argue with that," Lois proudly stated.

That got a laugh from the others and Lois too.

Clark hailed a taxi to take them to the hotel.

"Peter, whatever happened to your paper's publisher? After you webbed his mouth shut, I noticed that security was escorting him out," Clark asked.

Just as their taxi arrived, Peter answered with a devilish smile, "I don't know, he's probably hanging around somewhere."

As their cab drove away, three of the occupants didn't notice a man hanging blindfolded with his pants down from the mouth of one of the tigers that decorated the ballpark.

**The End**

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**AN:** Please leave a review to let me know what you thought of this story. Constructive criticism welcome but flames are not.


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